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Nigeria: CBN, NCC to Tackle SIM Swap, USSD e-Payment Frauds

Posted on: 9 August 2017

By:admin

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, in collaboration with the Nigerian Communication Commission, NCC, is set to introduce regulations to curb SIM swap and Unstructured Supplementary Service Data,USSD, related electronic payment frauds in the financial system of the nation.

Speaking on "Electronic payment industry performance and regulatory issues," Fatokun said the CBN is aware that fraudsters are exploiting the SIM swap process and USSD to defraud people, adding this would soon be a thing of the past.

He said: "Some of the fraud we are still battling with is the issue of SIM swap. We had an investigation recently and we discover that one particular fraudster, which we discovered through the help of NCC, has been using SIM swap and USSD to collect people's money and using the money to recharge his phone. We hope that before the end of the year the issue of SIM swap and USSD frauds would be a dead issue.

"We have heard of instances where people would say for three days my phone did not work. And because many of us carry more than one phone, if one is not working, at least one will work.

"So, what they do is that they swap your phone. That is, they just walk up to a service provider and claim to be the owner of the line. Most often, they have studied that number and they have collaborators, probably in the bank. Read more on All Africa.

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The idea of an Association of African Central Banks was first introduced on May 25, 1963, at the Summit Conference of African Heads of State and Government held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In this regard, African Heads of State and Government unanimously agreed to set up a preparatory Economic Committee to study a large range of monetary and financial issues, in collaboration with Governments and in consultation with the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).